Conventional set-top boxes (“STBs”) or media players are unable to determine the display capabilities of display devices connected therewith. Although emerging streaming video systems or the like now allow consumers or users to select specific content with attributes such as 4K or high dynamic range (“HDR”) or the like, some consumers or users may not be aware of the specific capabilities of their TV(s) and/or may not know how to request content in a format that takes full advantage of their TVs capabilities. Alternatively, or additionally, some consumers or users may request a format that cannot be displayed by their TV (and would get down-sampled or down-decimated), thus unnecessarily using bandwidth in the operator's or service provider's network. For example, consumers or users might select 4K content with HDR, but the user's display devices (e.g., TV) might only be a high definition (“HD”) TV that is not capable of displaying content in 4K with HDR. In such instances, the STB or media player through which the user makes the selection, or the HDTV itself, might receive the 4K content and might down-sample the 4K content into HD content that can be displayed. This process, however, results in excessive bandwidth usage (i.e., downloading of 4K content that will not actually be viewed in the form as downloaded, the 4K content being generally larger in data size).
Hence, there is a need for more robust and scalable solutions for implementing media content streaming or downloading and media content playback, and, more particularly, to methods, systems, and apparatuses for implementing video quality optimization based on display capabilities.